ABC HD and TNT HD diiferent?!!

So i got an HDTV and was starting to enjoy the NBA eastern finals on TNT-HD. Then i start watching the finals on ABC-HD and notice a difference in HD quality; ABC sucked compared to TNT but why?
ABC-HD broadcasts in 720p HD and TNT-HD in 1080i HD...anything above 540p is considered HD.

Center For American Progress

They seem good for domestic policy issues and criticism but their international views, or Spencer Boyer's, is the typical narrow-minded, flawed and one-sided US foreign policy shite as usual.
How can you objectively give credit and write about an entity, the UN Security Council, that represents mainly US interests?!?!
This high-school, absence-of-criticism type writing "The level of cooperation among members of the Council is itself noteworthy and should be lauded. Yet the Security Council’s work is not over. The Council must figure out how to maintain its unity in the coming months in order to successfully resolve these nuclear standoffs"

My poor country of many dumb and blind who unfortunately lack a common-sense approach to the world, no wonder they really know nothing about it.
But it makes sense because it's a lot easier to manipulate people like this; Mr. Boyer's article sounds like a Harvard or Ivy League parrot on the issues. Can you at least read some Noam Chomsky?!!!!!!!! Ever think WHY Pakistan can have nuclear weapons but Iran cannot? There is a reason for everything and the reasons are quite simple. Just because you read or even a Yale graduate (look at Bush!) doesn't mean you're smart.

No offense to Mr. Boyer and the Center for American Progress but just my truth and I plead to you and anyone to help improve our world and don't condone old views and polices that have made our world stagnant and positive change inexistent.

Peace Corps Life in Botswana

of course these are my opinions and i fully understand that some social aspects are generalizations and take from it what you want. just remember that your experience in Botswana should and will be yours alone. Good luck nonetheless!

Things to think about before leaving for Botswana. If you're a District AIDS Coordinator (DAC):

• take no more than 10 ties. you'll BARELY need them and men dress very casually
  
• bring many short-sleeved dress shirts. i brought long-sleeved ones and it's TOO hot for them most of the time
• a cell phone with a 900 MHz frequency.
• 2 pairs of casual shoes or nice boots (like Clarks) to have some diversity during the cold 2-3 month spell (depending where you are placed)
  
• many dress sandals. i wore a pair of Chacos and Keens to work and my coworkers loved them.
  
• more than a pair of sunglasses
• hats
• fleece gloves (if you are a coldy-locks like myself)
• seeds, if you plan to garden
• a memory stick with U3 software. most have an antivirus (like Mcafee) installed on the memory which will allow you to scan documents copied to it but computers also where you'll get your doc.'s from. the antivirus is free and all you'll need is sporadic Internet access to download the antivirus files. this helped me and others a lot!
• if you're a techie, a gameboy or whatever when you want a non-book distraction! i even brought my laptop with games on it cause there will be a lot of downtime

• PATIENCE. Botswana culture is similar to latinamerican culture in the sense that it is laid back. but in Botswana, multiply that by 1000 and add some lack of urgency and laziness? to it too.

• there is a general and very well-publicized feeling of Xenophobia in Botswana, especially in the rural areas/villages so be prepared for many challenges!

for more info, I've pasted edited letters i sent to friends during my stay in Botswana describing my experience. the surprising thing was that more than 90% of us Peace Corps Volunteers had (those who are still there continue to do) the very similar experiences.

Bye Bye Botswana - January 2007

My friends! I am happy to announce that I am now home, in the US!!! It feels good to be with good and welcoming people again!! Not to mention the worthy food and fast internet!!!

So what happened? Well as I mentioned before, I was working as a DAC or District AIDS Coordinator. My main job was to provide technical support and build capacity or sustainability with a local Batswana DAC but unfortunately, she wanted me to do her job instead of wanting my assistance.

Peace Corps is more a political entity than a developing one so I could not be transferred to another village because it may have caused some disputes among the Botswana government, etc. In any case, I was told the Batswana DAC will not receive any more volunteers; the one before me left 1 year early because she was doing all the work, became frustrated, and burned out.

I was sad to leave because the DAC position is an important one as it is the direct link between national govt. AIDS policies and the activities done in the community. I was able to mobilize many youth and community groups who were absent before and I am afraid they may disappear again.

I hope my absence will cause more change than when I was there but only time will tell. I feel relieved to have left because it was very difficult to work with someone (or a culture) who did not (or does not) want to "work". Unfortunately, the majority of volunteers there have the same experience and it seems like Batswana culture, not AIDS, will be their demise.

They say that when one door closes, another one opens so now I'm chillin and looking forward to entering the new door!!!!

Botswana - January 2007

So I was in Mozambique and South Africa and it was very nice to be in countries where the food is good, the people are welcoming and xenophobia isn’t rampant…all unlike Botswana.

In Mozambique, we meet Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) from Zambia, South Africa and Mozam. It was interesting to hear and compare experiences and the unanimous conclusion was or is that we, Botswana PCVs, have not had a typical PCV experience. Unlike the other PCVs, we have not made friends with the locals and we, as a whole, are not accepted or even wanted in most communities here. There is a vast difference and “cultural” divide between western-educated government officials and the communities here. We have 3 main areas of work here: Community Capacity Building (CCBs), NGOs, and District AIDS Coordinators (DACs). We were 41 at the start and now we are 30, with the mayority of NGOs gone. The main reason being that their communities did not want them.

The main cultural challenges here are Xenophobia and Laziness. I speculate the reason for the former is that Bostwana is one of the few Southern African countries not to be “colonized” though it was a British protectorate. And I understand their xenophobia as the countries surrounding them continue to deal with poverty and injustice, issues not widely present.

The laziness is not laziness per say but it’s their cultural lifestyle that breeds a very laid-back mentality. People are given or entitled to land, education, and health; all free and equaling no worries among the people.

There is a lot of money here. The GDP for 1.8 million Batswana is similar to Mexico’s GDP and Mexico has a lot more people. And Mexico is a lot more infrastructurally and economically developed. But the main issue here has been trying to get people out of their farms and comfortable and fairly independent lifestyles to work for diamond-money Batswana. Here’s my opinion:

40 yrs ago Botswana found diamonds. These diamonds are controlled by few Batswana (40 yrs ago Botswana owned 75% of diamond profits, the other 25% by South Africa; now it’s 50-50) but these new and few rich don’t or can’t exploit these diamond-rich lands alone so they try to recruit locals. How do you recruit farmers from the comfortable and independent lifestyles to want to give this up and work for someone else? It’s like dangling a carrot in front of a rabbit.

Right now villages are being flooded with china and indian shops that sell anything and almost everything dirt cheap; from clothes, bikes, TVs, cellphones, to DVD players. The Indians have mainly the supermarkets, fast-food shops, and small industries like construction.

Now villages see and are enticed by these material things. So they observe that you need money to buy these things that they don’t need but want, and presently are doing everything possible to do this. And being that I’m foreign (foreigners have money you know), I receive a couple of villagers a month at my doorstep asking for work so they can make money and go to the china shops.

So this is the Batswana struggle in my eyes. The rich western-educated politicians here trying to get their people to become dependent (like slaves) so that they will eventually become a westernized-type country where people are dependent on “others” for almost everything (food, clothes, health, wellbeing) while those few “others” make millions providing these things…Capitalism. The younger generations are pretty much following suit but they are few and live in the larger towns or small cities and these are few also.

So for me, in the beginning, it’s was a bit difficult battling the culture that was instilled in me and trying to work with people who don’t understand or even want what I am supposedly here trying to promote; “western values and culture” though they want at the same time the cool cellphones or other gadgets. Intelligently, when I think about it, pop culture, cool gadgets and capitalism is being very well-marketed from the US.
The US is the melting pot, as we all know, and that’s its key because if you can create a lifestyle and products that appeal to the melting pot (Africans, Asians, Europeans, Latinamericans), you know or there is a very high probability that it will appeal to the world…the “laziness” and “xenophobia” are highly understood.

OH! And 2 new things about me since being here:

1. I Love spicy food now!! I’m putting Cayenne Pepper on eveything! Though not a big fan, as of yet, of the liquid spices. Now I’m discovering the different spices like the ones that target the throat, the tongue, the sinuses, and the esophogous…I’m fascinated! The lack of spices and variety of food here were the main cause.

2. I wear sandals and flip-flops, but nice ones, cause closed shoes in 90 plus degree weather for long periods is not cool or comfortable. So I now feel comfortable (for the 1^st time) wearing NICE flip-flops with kakis or pants and I just got a pair of Chacos!